38 books in 2019! This is the sixth year I’ve created these summaries. As in previous years, I’ve used the following scheme in these brief notes on the books I’ve read.
LR = light, enjoyable read; GR = good, several caveats; ER = excellent, few caveats; OR = outstanding; DNF = did not finish; NMT = not my type.
Title | Author | Comment | ||
Jan | American Duchess: A Novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt | Karen Harper | ER | Karen Harper chose an excellent time and subject to write about. So much happened in Consuelo’s life, it could have been two books! |
Jan | The Governor’s Wife | Michael Harvey | GR | Enjoyable, fast read. Set in Chicago with lots of twists and nefarious, scheming characters who are rotten to the core. |
Jan | Before We Were Yours | Lisa Wingate | ER | I powered through the novel in two and a half very satisfying days. See blog for more. |
Jan | Nine Perfect Strangers | Liane Moriarty | GR | Not quite as compelling as Big Little Lies or The Husband’s Secret. But an intriguing premise. |
Jan | Educated | Tara Westover | OR | At book club the words used to describe it included: compelling, horrifying, unbelievable, shocking, inspiring, and head shaking. See blog for more. |
Feb | Becoming | Michelle Obama | OR | Wonderful. I know that doesn’t constitute a review, but I found Michelle Obama’s memoir hard to put down for many reasons. |
Feb | Love and Ruin | Paula McLain | ER | Martha Gelhorn is such an interesting woman and McLain makes her and her relationship with Hemingway come alive. Definitely a page-turner. |
Mar | The Great Alone | Kristin Hannah | ER | I powered through the pages and marvelled at Kristin Hannah’s storytelling talent. |
Mar | The Blue | Nancy Bilyeau | ER | Industrial espionage in the porcelain trade of the 18th century. |
Mar | American Princess | Stephanie Marie Thornton (see blog for author interview) | ER | A superbly told story of Alice Roosevelt the high-spirited, independent-minded woman who took America by storm when her father, Teddy Roosevelt became president. |
Mar | The Huntress | Kate Quinn (see blog for a discussion of writing this novel) | ER | Wonderful characters + a fast-paced story = a superb read. Kate Quinn does it again! |
Apr | Careless Love | Peter Robinson | GR | An excellent ‘read’ in audiobook format. Kept my husband and I intrigued on a two-day drive. |
Apr | The Expatriates | Janice Y.K. Lee | GR | Janice Y.K. Lee’s writing is quite wonderful. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of Hong Kong, a city where I lived for three years. |
May | Where the Crawdads Sing | Delia Owens | ER | Two timelines – one deserves 5 stars, the other comes in at 3. See blog for more. |
May | No Hero’s Welcome | Jeffrey K Walker (see author guest post) | ER | A superbly told story of an Irish family’s struggles during and after World War One; wonderful characters. |
June | The Founding | Cynthia Harrod-Eagles | DNF | Searching around for a new author – unfortunately, this did not grab me. |
June | Mistress of Rome | Kate Quinn | ER | After reading The Alice Network and The Huntress, I went searching for more Kate Quinn. |
Jun | Madame Fourcade’s Secret War | Lynne Olson | ER | Non-fiction; A fascinating story of the courageous woman who led France’s largest WWII spy network. |
Jun | The Devlin Diary | Christi Phillips | GR | 3.5 on my scale; lots to enjoy about this story & the time period of 1672 London in the court of Charles II |
Jun | Beartown | Fredrik Backman | ER | Excellent .. powerfully told story. Characters leap off the page. |
Jun | Wench | Dolen Perkins-Valdez | ER | An enthralling story of enslaved mistresses. The author truly swept me away into that time and place. |
I’ll post Part 2 next Tuesday. I hope your 2019 reading has been equally rewarding. Recommendations welcome!
Previous years: 2018 part 2, 2018 part 1, 2017 (part 1 and part 2), 2016 (part 1 and part 2)
A Year of Reading 2015 – Part 1 and Part 2
A Year of Reading 2014 – Part 1 and Part 2
FOR MORE ON READING & WRITING HISTORICAL FICTION FOLLOW A WRITER OF HISTORY (using the widget on the left sidebar)
M.K. Tod writes historical fiction. Her latest novel, TIME AND REGRET was published by Lake Union. Mary’s other novels, LIES TOLD IN SILENCE and UNRAVELLED are available from Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Google Play and iTunes. She can be contacted on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads or on her website www.mktod.com.
4 Responses
I’ve liked all the books I’ve read of the ones you listed. So I’ll have to look for the others! Thanks for posting.
Sounds like we have similar tastes!
I love seeing what other writers are reading. I too loved Michelle Obama’s memoir and Hannah’s The Great Alone–I didn’t inhale until I got to the last page of that book. I liked Dolen Perkin’s Valdez’s second book Balm even better than Wench for its fascinating look at characters finding new lives after the Civil War. A librarian just suggested Frederik Backman for A Man Called Ove so that will be my first book for 2020. I am bookmarking this post so I can refer back for other books I ought to be reading. Thanks.